Metro works to make bus system easier to use

Metro plans on rebuilding its bus system, from restructuring routes to creating a more efficient network to boost ridership

By Christof Spieler

March 21, 2013Updated: March 23, 2013 10:42pm

Photo: Mayra Beltran, Staff

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Maria Colon exits a Metro Hybrid Bus that was on display during Fresh Air Friday activities in downtown Houston in 2007.

Maria Colon exits a Metro Hybrid Bus that was on display during Fresh Air Friday activities in downtown Houston in 2007.

Photo: Mayra Beltran, Staff

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Anthony Phillips is among the many Houstonians who rely on Metro buses to get to work. The Metropolitan Transit Authority is working to improve its bus system.

Anthony Phillips is among the many Houstonians who rely on Metro buses to get to work. The Metropolitan Transit Authority is working to improve its bus system.

Photo: Nick De La Torre, STAFF

Metro works to make bus system easier to use

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In the last decade, Metro's local bus ridership has dropped by a third. But, just as the new Metro has put the agency on a sound financial footing, secured federal funds to build 15 more miles of light rail, and brought transparency to budgets and decisions, we're addressing this problem. Metro is undertaking an unprecedented re-imagining of our entire transit system, and we're asking for your help.

So, why is our bus ridership falling while other cities see their ridership growing?

It isn't because Houstonians don't want to use transit. Where we provide high-quality service, we get strong ridership. Over half of the downtown employees who live near our park-and-ride system utilize the service to get to work. Our light rail line carries more people per mile than any other in America except Boston. Neither has seen the ridership decline that local bus service has over the same time period.

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It's not because of the economy. Ridership went down in 2008 and 2009 as unemployment rose, but now the local economy has recovered and ridership hasn't.

It's not because of service cuts. We're actually providing more service today than we did in 2006, when ridership peaked.

The problems, we believe, are more fundamental.

First, in many cases, transit doesn't go to the right places. Over time, Houston's population has shifted as the urban core has redeveloped, older suburbs have changed, and new areas have appeared. But the local bus system, with routes that trace their origins to Houston's streetcar network of the 1920s, has not changed. Nor has it adapted to a city that now has multiple job centers: It connects well to downtown and the Texas Medical Center, but not as well to Greenway Plaza and Uptown.

Second, our bus system discourages new riders. Where routes are frequent and clear, as on West­heimer, buses are packed. But buses on most routes are infrequent, so you need to plan your life around their schedules. They're complicated, jumping from one street to another and branching to multiple destinations rather than following straightforward, predictable paths. They're also hard to understand: Nothing at a typical bus stop tells you which destinations a route serves, which direction a bus is going, or how frequent the buses are.

The system works well for people who make the same trip at the same time every day. For everyone else, it can be intimidating. As a frequent bus rider, I understand why people who want to use public transportation can't figure out how to use the local bus system.

So, we are starting with a blank sheet to create a more effective bus system. Rather than follow past practices of just tweaking today's routes, we're going to look at where people live and where people work, and then design the system that serves them best.

The first step is defining what our goals are. This isn't simple. It appears obvious that we want to move as many people as possible and serve as many places as possible. But those are actually contradictory goals. To cover as much area as possible, we would need to reduce the bus frequency in the areas with the highest number of potential riders. This dramatically reduces ridership. These are not easy policy trade-offs, but we need to acknowledge them and make thoughtful decisions.

We can't make those decisions without involving the public. We'll talk with the community to learn what their priorities are, then develop a network to address those priorities. A task force representing neighborhoods, employment centers, educational institutions, health care facilities, local governments and other stakeholders will drive the process. At every step, we'll have opportunities for public participation - including surveys and online forums.

I know we can develop a better bus system to attract new riders, while providing service enhancements for current riders. New freeways or rail lines can take a decade to plan and build. But with the bus system, we can restructure the network in the next two or three years and see significant increases in ridership. And, we can accomplish this without new taxes.

We want to spend our existing funds and the additional resources voters approved in November more effectively. That's good public policy. Most important, it will make the everyday lives of our residents better by making it easier to get to work, school, the store, church, the doctor, the park and all the other places we want to go.